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Negative Strength Training

In recent years, a variation to conventional weight training technique has proved to be a good way to augment your results with free weights. It’s called Negative strength training, also known as negative resistance training or eccentric muscle training.

Here’s how it works. We’re going to use the dumbbell curl as the illustrative exercise because it’s easy to describe and visualize. Normally, you perform this exercise standing straight with the dumbbells in each hand (or one at a time) with palms of the hands facing forward. Then you move the dumbbells up (curl motion) by lifting the weights upwards towards each shoulder until the dumbbells are almost touching the front of each shoulder. Then you release the weights, lowering them down to the start position. So the muscle tension occurs in performing the curling motion by contracting the biceps (lifting up) until the dumbbells reach the front of each shoulder, then the muscles are relaxed as you lower them down until both arms extend downwards.

In performing Negative strength training, when the biceps curling motion reaches its full contraction and the dumbbell is at the front of the shoulder, instead of relaxing the muscle (and allowing the weight to fall down to the start position) you slowly lower the weight – inch by inch – to work the bicep muscle in the reverse motion.

The principle of this reverse-motion tension is that a muscle actually can manage more weight when it's lengthening as opposed to when it's contracting. So adding a controlled return (exhaling as you slowly lower the dumbbell), with the bicep fully engaged, is like adding an extra repetition for each curl performed. What’s more, this deliberate motion prevents you from using the gravity-falling motion to bounce and rebound the dumbbell upward for the start of the next repetition.

So by adding this dynamic, controlled-motion form to your workout, you can add additional muscle density to your body without lifting heavier weights. In fact, research of this technique has shown that negative strength training is less stressful on the body, while promoting more microscopic muscle tearing. And this is a good result you should welcome. Lifting weights causes microscopic damage (microtears) to the myofibrils inside the muscle fiber. These microtears stimulate white blood cells, protein, testosterone, and other nutrients to flood the muscle cells and repair the damage. They also stimulate more myofibrils to grow, resulting in denser, stronger, more defined muscles.

In addition, one medical study (focusing on elderly people) that compared the standard motion with negative resistance training showed that negative strength training not only added more strength, but also improved the subject’s balance!

Some professional bodybuilders even employ a longer release count than the contraction count. This means if you raise the dumbbell to a slow count of five, you would then lower the weight to a count of ten. Of course, this is optional. Realize that the longer you spend performing the up/down motion, the more exertion required on your back and abdominals to maintain the correct posture.

So listen to your body and if it feels too much strain, back off and give yourself more time to build more muscle. If you’re use strength training exercising to lose weight, it’s not necessary to over challenge yourself to derive wonderful benefits from moderate exertion. Remember, it’s consistency that counts.

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Sources: Increased Energy Requirements and Changes in Body Composition with Resistance Training in Older Adults American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol 60, 167-17 The Role of Diet and Exercise for the Maintenance of Fat-free Mass and Resting Metabolic Rate During Weight Loss Sports Medicine 2006;36(3):239-62 Learn To Use Negative Training To Boost Strength Building Critical Bench (www.criticalbench.com/strength_building.htm)

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